Angry Cardinal Zen decries new loss for Church freedom in China

December 14, 2010

The Chinese government has lost face by preventing Liu Xiaobo from accepting his Nobel Prize, and by using force to bring about the Patriotic Assembly of Catholic Representatives, writes Cardinal Joseph Zen. Unfortunately, the cardinal adds, the Church also lost, because the Patriotic Assembly—and the participation of some bishops who are in communion with Rome—frayed the unity of the Catholic community.

In his analysis of the latest developments in China, Cardinal Zen angrily rejects the claim of a noted Catholic Sinologist, Father Jerooom Heyndrickx, that the Church is moving toward unity in China, merging the “official” and “underground” branches of Catholicism. The cardinal questions why the Vatican’s Congregation for Evangelization has not been more emphatic in denouncing Chinese abuses of religious liberty.

 

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Further information:

• China, the Nobel, the bishops and the Vatican: Who won, who lost (AsiaNews)